Hey Ya'll

Welcome to SMF from the Dakota's. That sounds like a great operation you have set up and the time you get to spend with your dad is even better. Good luck to you.

Going to start with a small one I found plans for (uses charcoal), until I can get enough extra cash to built me a larger one. My yards are picky on the AL having to be clean (had them try to cut my price on some old bent aluminum shelves for one small bolt I missed. I pulled it as soon as they mentioned it. Hopefully the smelter will allow me to smelt down the aluminum parts of the HDD's and heat sinks to get full price for them. I love the yard I deal with, but that one bolt incident taught me to triple check all my "clean" materials again as I'm loading them. Also smelting will allow me to carry more in the small truck I have at the moment. I really need a larger truck, but bills come first.

The plans didn't look too safe considering it'll be dealing with melted aluminum, but I have the materials on hand for it, and a few ideas to make it safer. As soon as I get it built, I'll be posting pictures. I might wind up seeing how much smelting I can get away with making one out of Sackcrete. I have a spare bag, but I've heard it cracks after just a few smelts. Oh well, live and learn, and of course, safety first. Gotta clean an area for the smelter away from the wood house.

Patriot, yea working with dad is a blessing, and occasionally a curse. I love him dearly, but we don't see eye to eye on a whole lot. It makes for some good days and some bad days, but if it wasn't for him I wouldn't be scrapping nor doing construction work. I owe him a lot for teaching me what he has. Sadly since we still operate out of the house with just a small truck our loads are relatively small, but I'm working on changing that. I need to get a new axle for a trailer I got free, and something to make a deck out of, then I will at least have a trailer I can haul with. Also would be nice if Florida made it easier to open an actual yard, the amount of paperwork your required to keep is ridiculous.

Shendog, hopefully the kids will wait a while, I'm still young and getting my life on track. I do plan on continuing the tradition with them when I have them. I truly enjoy our good days between us, but he has some mental health issues that make it hard to deal with him at times. I make the best of it though. I wish it would cool down here, it's too hot in these parts. Then it rains daily, but just enough to bump the humidity to 80-90%, and all the clouds disappear. I hope your working vacation goes well, be sure to where plenty of sun-block, you wouldn't want to go back as red as a lobster. Are you going to south Florida, or the panhandle area?